It’s some start. “Do you want to get high?” bellows [a]Redman[/a]. “Does Pinocchio have wooden balls?” snickers [a]Method Man[/a]. So, these two hip-hop alumni – who first came together on the 1995 single ‘How High’ – certainly shared several acres of super-strength grass in the making of this album. To wit, the humorous, the freaky and great pinnacles of incoherent poppycock – they visited them all.
If the optimum sleazy ooze of the title track was anything to go by, ‘Blackout!’ (on which The RZA and Eric Sermon are among the producers) would rank as a exceptional offering. As it is, they seem duty-bound to complement each dose of rasping funk and high-paced rap relay with lazy sonic scribbles, including the gauche ‘YOU’ and the plain tedious ‘Maaad Crew’.
Charged, sinister moments such as the barbed wire-lined digital hubbub of ‘Da Rockwilder’ briefly have you believing this is yet another treasure to add to the hip-hop pantheon. Irksomely, it’s not a sentiment which lasts for long, however. [a]Method Man[/a] and [a]Redman[/a] never fully get into their stride. The lure of the sofa, the spliff and the half-arsed effort evidently proved too strong.